Senate Bill No. 259
(By Senators Mitchell and Kessler)
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[Introduced January 21, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article eight-d, chapter sixty-one of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated
section ten, relating to removal of the required three-day
discovery obligation in certain situations where criminal
charges have been filed in conjunction with an abuse and
neglect petition.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article eight-d, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8D.CHILD ABUSE.
§61-8D-10. Discovery in a case of child neglect or abuse, or
sexual abuse or exploitation, or murder of a
child by a parent, guardian or custodian.
Where a criminal charge has been brought against a parent,
guardian or custodian charging that parent, guardian or
custodian with a violation of section two-a, three, four, four-a
or five of this article, the discovery requirements imposed upon
the department of health and human resources and the attorney
for the department as part of any civil abuse and neglect
proceeding filed pursuant to chapter forty-nine of this code are
to be held in abeyance until such time as the circuit court
judge assigned to hear the criminal case has addressed discovery
in the criminal case.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement
of the three-day discovery obligation in certain situations
where criminal charges have been filed in conjunction with an
abuse and neglect petition.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.